Although it will close the millennium in sole possession of first place in the ECAC, the Harvard men's hockey team realized that it was in need of a serious adjustment after skating to a disappointing 1-1 overtime tie with Dartmouth (2-5-3, 1-2-3 ECAC) Friday night.

The Crimson (6-5-1, 5-3-1 ECAC) did just that when it downed Northeastern 6-5 in overtime last night, scoring as many goals as it had in its previous three games.

The win over the last Beanpot team was by no means effortless.

When the Huskies (7-7-2, 4-4-2 Hockey East) pushed the Crimson in to its second straight extra-minute game, a sense of deja vu was all too apparent.

Harvard lost a comfortable 5-3 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the final stanza. But senior winger Matt Macleod restored the Crimson's non-conference winning record and recovered bragging rights against its cross-town rival less than a minute into overtime.

"Maybe it's justice that we didn't play one of our better games, but we won a hockey game," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "They worked hard to maintain that work ethic and it's nice to see a reward out there, instead of a tie."

Harvard 6, Northeastern 5

With only five minutes to play against Northeastern, it appeared that the Crimson had the win in the bag. Sporting a 5-3 lead supported by excellent offensive play, it seemed highly unlikely that the Huskies would pull ahead.